CNN Promotes David Chalian — Who Was Fired by Yahoo For Racist Comments

CNN recently announced the promotion of “Crossfire” producer David Chalian as its new political director — the same David Chalian fired by Yahoo News in 2012 for saying that the GOP was “happy to have a party with black people drowning” when its national convention coincided with a hurricane.

A hot mic picked up Chalian’s hateful comment during media coverage of the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida just as Hurricane Isaac was making landfall.

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With Hurricane Katrina still figuring prominently in the minds of members of the media, Chalian was heard disparaging the GOP over the convention’s timing.

“They’re not concerned at all. They’re happy to have a party with black people drowning,” he said over one of ABC’s mics during an ABC/Yahoo News webcast.

Politico’sDylan Byers quickly reported on the incident on August 29, 2012 and noted that Chalian was immediately fired by Yahoo when the hateful comment became news.

“David Chalian’s statement was inappropriate and does not represent the views of Yahoo,” Yahoo said in a statement. “He has been terminated effective immediately. We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offended.”

Chalian soon landed at CNN and had until recently been a producer for the network’s low rated “Crossfire” political chat show.

Now that Chalian has been given a big promotion at the once leading cable news network, it’s surprising that with his latest glowing report of the CNN producer’s new job, Politico’s Byers did not make a single mention of Chalian’s racist comment or his firing by Yahoo.

Certainly David Chalian has made it clear how much bias he has against the Republican Party, but shockingly, CNN has put him in charge of reporting on that very organization.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com